Summary of Doubts – Doubting Christmas

In my book Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christmas faith, I dedicate a chapter to the doubts I had as a Christian about the Christmas story. In conclusion, here is a summary of why I had doubts:

• December 25^th used to fall on the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year.
• The Winter Solstice was considered, by pagan cultures, the birthday of the sun – and therefore the birthday of many pagan Sun gods.
• December 25^th was chosen by the Christian church to honor the birth of Jesus so that Jesus would supersede his pagan predecessors born on this day.
• No one knows when Jesus was actually born.
• Jesus shares many of the same attributes as his pagan predecessors – including being born of a virgin, being the divine made flesh, being a savior, being born before shepherds and more.
• The decoration of Christmas trees is originally a pagan custom.
• Not one word of the New Testament was written during Jesus’ lifetime.
• Jesus offended his hometown neighbors because they had no idea he was born divine.
• The Gospel of Mark is the oldest gospel – the authors of both Mathew and Luke utilized Mark in their own compositions.
• The Gospel of Mark, being the eldest, makes no mention of the virgin birth, the nativity scene, Jesus fleeing to Egypt, the murder of children by King Herod or anything else in relation to Jesus’ birth.
• Matthew’s chronological account of Jesus’ genealogy incorrectly states there were 14 generations from the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus, even though he only lists 13.
• The genealogy of Jesus listed by Matthew and Luke are different.
• While the characters and setting is the same, the remainders of Matthews and Luke’s accounts of the nativity scene are different.
• Claims that Jesus fulfilled prophecy point to passages in the Old Testament that are taken out of context or were not fulfilled by Jesus.
• To accept the philosophy that God speaks to us through prophecy, one would need to accept that God has dropped prophecies scattered throughout miscellaneous verses in at least eleven Hebrew-centric writings authored over more than a millennium of time.

For more information or to obtain a FREE CHAPTER visit http://www.DoubtAfterDoubt.com

Tis’ the Season – for the Annual War on Christmas!

The Christians are coming to defend Christmas!

“Happy Holidays” is no longer an acceptable salutation. It’s “Merry Christmas” or nothing! They’ll boycott you! They’ll condemn you!!! They’ll unlike you on Facebook!

Join the ranks – arm yourselves with my latest FREE CHAPTER – “Doubting Christmas!” from the controversial and provacative book Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith. Please visit http://www.doubtafterdoubt.com to request your FREE GIFT. This chapter will arm you with the tools, logic and arguments you need to win any War on Christmas debate – not that I encourage anyone to take this silly “war” seriously.

 The season of the Winter Solstice is for everyone and not to be monopolized by any faith, creed or religion! Happy Holidays to you and yours no matter how you choose to celebrate (or not)!

Here is an excerpt:

As Matthew documents the lineage of Jesus he is bringing forth his first set of evidence to support his claim that Jesus is indeed the messiah as prophesied by the Hebrew prophets. Lineage held substantial importance for the Jews, a fact that is clear from the great number of Old Testament verses where the lineage of individuals is documented. The listing of Jesus’ genealogy links him to the royal bloodline of King David.

Any student of Judaism, as the author of Matthew clearly was, understands that the prophesied messiah was to be born from King David’s royal line. This is supported by the Old Testament verse Micah 5:2, but further scrutiny of Matthew’s work reveals some controversial points.

The first question I ask is how anyone can declare Jesus descended from the royal line of King David through his father, Joseph, if the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus? If the conception of Jesus was truly divine, then Joseph was in essence a stepfather and we must trace Jesus’ lineage through the bloodline of his mother, Mary.

Next, it is clear by comparing the texts that Matthew drew from the genealogy listed in 1 Chronicles 3:10-12 to compile his list of generations. Curiously he omits a few generations in his account and changes some of the names. The theory behind why Matthew may have intentionally omitted a couple of generations is found in verse 3:11:

         Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Matthew was attempting to demonstrate the power of God’s divine plan by showing the precise way in which God intervened in the history of Israel through three successive groups comprised of fourteen generations each. Unfortunately, it appears that Matthew is manipulating the numbers. Another curious discrepancy in Matthew’s account is that the last group of fourteen generations contains only thirteen, from the end of the exile in Babylon to the birth of Jesus.

Luke also lists Jesus’ genealogy and makes a similar case that Jesus, through the line of his stepfather, is descended from King David. Curiously, he adds a disclaimer: “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.” Early literary support in favor of the theory that Matthew and Luke wrote independently and were unaware of the other’s work is revealed in the genealogy accounts, for Luke’s is remarkably different from Matthew’s.

Visit http://www.DoubtafterDoubt.com for more:

Doubt after Doubt – reader compliments

I received some very nice compliments recently from someone who read “Doubt After Doubt” – so I thought I’d share a portion. This reader was formerly a Fundamentalist Christian.

A portion of what he shared included:

 “I just wanted to say what a wonderful book “Doubt after Doubt” is! I was intrigued from cover to cover, and some of the questions I have had about my previous Christian faith were answered as well. I’ve read some of the books out there like “The Jesus Mysteries,” “Jesus and the Lost Goddess,” “Who Wrote the New Testament,” “A Case Against the Case for Christ,” etc., but this book puts the concepts in clear layman’s terms that are easy to read and understand and also cites its sources, which is very commendable.”

I want to thank you for sharing your experiences and for helping me in my process of freeing my mind from the shackles of fundamentalist Christianity.

I am blessed to be able to share my experiences and I am thrilled they have had a positive impact on my readers!

Them Demons is Tricky – Book Review *****

UPDATE: October 27th: The review is now published and can be found here: http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Them-Jacik.html

I recently received a  book review of Them Demons is Tricky!

The review was done by The US Review of Books and will soon be published on their site. The reviewer was Carolyn Davis.

Enjoy!

“After e-mail conversations with me, all of them, without exception, ended up leaving their church and leaving their Fundamentalist group. Each… walked away with a greater appreciation for other faiths.”

Written mostly in e-mail format, with some narrative and explanations included, Jacik’s opus documents his correspondence with five members of a Fundamentalist church. The members’ inspiration to contact the author (who was raised in the Catholic faith, later joined Wicca, and now is practicing modern Paganism), was to attempt to convince him that their church’s way was the true one. Through multiple messages that detail patience, lessons in history and theology, and assurances that there is more to life than the fear of punishment for sin, Jacik convinces these men, as well as several other people, to leave their rigid pastor and church for others that emphasize love and acceptance.

The men with whom the author corresponds reveal themselves to be searching for more meaning and joy in their spiritual lives. All of the members were expected to contribute considerable amounts of money to their Fundamentalist church, and to follow the dictates of its pastor, who is portrayed as an angry, controlling, frightened, and frightening person.

This book is significant in that it illustrates several important points of the dangers of intolerance and “blind faith”–that those who seek to guide others spiritually need to be grounded not only in Biblical and many other texts, but in their own and others’ motivations to lead others in religious beliefs and practices. Jacik’s message that love, tolerance, and enlightenment can and should replace fear and ignorance is extremely important not only in the context of religion, but in all aspects of life.

 I’ll be sure to post a link to the review once it’s officially published!

Modern science is the work of Satan!

Here is a portion of an exchange between Funadamentalist Hank and myself from Them Demons is Tricky:

From Fundamentalist Hank:

Modern science is the work of Satan. He gives us all this stuff that we shouldn’t know. He can then make us believe what he wants to. He gives us the art of changing our bodies in ways that God didn’t want. Messing with the DNA and stuff like that. We don’t have any business doing that. If we want something changed we should ask the Lord and not science. Even this computer that we are using is made by Satan. It lets him get his word out to people that are confused by him like you are. You hear about witches and demons and pagan and untrue gods on the Internet and you think it would be fun to have magic and make things happen that shouldn’t. Satan will still be using the Internet right up until the Lord comes back and gets rid of all the evil people and the devil. God has only us; his loyal worshipers to spread his message of love against all that have been tricked by Satan.

In response:

You cry “Satan” every time modern science proves that your Holy Book is simply a book of stories, no more the word of God than any other mythological collection of tales. Science proclaims without doubt that the universe is over 15 billion years old, and you cry Satan! Science proclaims that Dinosaurs roamed the earth for millions of years before the first humans and you cry Satan! Science proclaims that microorganisms most likely were found on Mars and {YAWN} you cry Satan!

Fact is, you cannot deny that with each modern claim your faith loses its clout and your pastors and reverends preach using ancient fear-of-God tactics so that you will continue to put money into their basket every Sunday.

Want to read more? Check out Them Demons is Tricky.

The Satan myth continues to infiltrate our world

I’m on YouTube now (just getting started with a Channel thats under construction). Here is the link to the video about this blog post.

On XM NPR (the XM Satellite version of National Public Radio) today I heard a caller actually say that Satan can manipulate our reasoning skills! On NPR!

The myth of Satan has perpetuated itself through the millenia into the minds of modern day man – yet the attributes of this angelic being are not founded in the Bible.

Now I’m not a Christian – but I would really like all those Christians out there to understand who Satan is from a Biblical standpoint. Satan is the adversary to mankind, not to God. He is part of God’s own angelic court. Satan serves as the tool of Yahweh to guide the unrighteous onto a righteous path. It was never Satan’s role Biblically to guide people into unrighteousness so that they may never return. Satan helps God, not hinders him.

I ask everyone who is interested in this character, from a Biblical point of view, to read the Book of Job.

I cover this topic extensively in Them Demons is Tricky and in my chapter “Doubting God’s Adversaries” in Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith.

Them Demons is Tricky!

I’ve entered a contest on Lulu.com and now Lulu is offering my customers 10% OFF their next purchase of “Them Demons is Tricky” or “Doubt after Doubt” through October 31st, 2010!

Take advantage of this offer by visiting my storefront at Lulu: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1749311 and entering promo code “HARVEST” …at check out! Thank you Lulu!

You will love this book! Them Demons is Tricky is now available!

Some people like me think you should be careful. You might have a demon in you. Demons is very tricky and you won’t know what they is doing. They can make you do things and think it is right. I bet you are a good person and that is why they are trying to make you believe in witches and magic. Ask your self if you have ever REALLY seen a witch and the answer will be no – from Them Demons is Tricky.

When several devout Fundamentalist Christians find out about my religious beliefs they seek to save my soul and turn me to the light of Christ.

Via e-mail we debate over the core Christian tenets. Is the earth only six thousand years old? Is Satan running amok upon the planet foiling God’s heavenly plans? Does God hate homosexuals? Are women inferior to men? Is God a male? And many more.

I surgically dissect each of their arguments using the Bible as one of my strongest allies. In response, the opinions and beliefs of the Fundamentalists run from surprising to frightening to downright hysterical.

In the end I reveal to them the reality of the Bible as each one of them ends up leaving their church. Losing church  members by the score the Reverend himself intercedes. I refuse to hold back and goe toe-to-toe with the pastor which eventually leads to a startling conclusion that abruptly ends my interactions with the Christians.

Learn more here: Them Demons is Tricky or become a fan on Facebook.



I’m sure that you’re doing Satan’s work

Here is an exchange between me and Fundamentalist Josh from Them Demons is Tricky .

I hope that you’re very happy with yourself you damn witchman! We had a good group of people that wanted to spread the word of God and you had to come along and make several of my friends leave our group. I don’t know what kind of spell you put on them, but I’m sure that you’re doing Satan’s work. So is our preacher. He has told us all to never talk to you again, but I have God on my side and I sure don’t fear the devil or his little helpers like you.

Why don’t you try and have a little love for your fellow man and try and convert people to the Baptist religion so that they can be saved. Your Wyker is a false religion setup by Satan and the damned demons of hell.

You probably think it is real funny to make people turn from God. Hank was a friend and I liked him. Now, because of you, I’m not supposed to talk or associate with him because my pastor said that he now has a demon. I have some justice in knowing that you will burn in hell. Go ahead and try one of your demon spells on me and I’ll throw it back at you because I have the Lord with me.  

In response:

You strike me as a very bitter and angry person. Your words are filled with hatred, outrage and frustration. Is this the sort of person you would like me to become in going to your church? If so, no thank you!

My world is filled with love and joy. I see God and Goddess everywhere and life is beautiful. I shall continue to enjoy my life and reap the blessings it bestows upon me each day, without your church, your reverend, or your savior.

Both Lee and Hank are very happy and thankful they met me! In fact, I continue to get “thank you’s” from both of them. I will not apologize to them or to anyone else for turning their lives around and allowing them to find the happiness that resides within.

Perhaps you have been misinformed about my doings and intentions. I have never once asked either one of them to change their faith. Indeed, both continue to be Christians…which is fine by me. The difference is they are now “better” Christians for they are out of the spiritually damaging grips of Reverend Hollows.

Want to read more? Check out Them Demons is Tricky or check it out on Facebook.